October 4, 2018
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new $4.4 million federal grant will allow The Ohio State University’s Nisonger Center to establish a national rehabilitation research and training center on health and function for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.“The Nisonger Center is a national innovator in research to help improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. This extremely competitive award further galvanizes Ohio State’s reputation as a national leader on health and function for people with intellectual disability and related neurodevelopmental disorders,” said Dr. K. Craig Kent, dean of the Ohio State College of Medicine.
The five-year grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research will fund the development of a body of research to improve the long-term health-related function and quality of life for adults with intellectual disability and related neurodevelopmental disorders.
“This research will develop evidenced-based technologies to allow this underserved and under-studied population to speak for themselves in health research, determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and adverse health outcomes, and develop best practice guidelines for clinical intervention,” said principal investigator Susan M. Havercamp, associate professor of psychiatry and director of Health Promotion and Healthcare Parity at the Nisonger Center, which is part of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State’s Neurological Institute.
“This award is momentous for supporting what may be the single venue in disabilities research that engages two panels of experts – one to reflect and articulate the lived experience and the other to disentangle the thorniest conceptual and methodological research problems – in understanding and measuring mental health of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” said Gloria Krahn, co-principal investigator and director of strategic initiatives at Oregon State University.
# # #
Media Contact: Eileen Scahill, Wexner Medical Center Media Relations, 614-293-3737, Eileen.Scahill@osumc.edu